Show Me What You’ve Got and Save Our Soaps!
By Susan Dansby

The As The World Turns fans have once again blown me away with their enthusiasm. Okay, I knew you had enthusiasm – but you guys have skills!

If someone had come to me when I was a brand new writer with the detail-loaded assignment I gave you last Tuesday, I’d have been cringing in a crawlspace for at least a week before writing a word. Instead, you folks have put the pedal to the metal.

Well, you’ve stepped up. So will I. I wasn’t going to read the breakdowns, but if you wrote one, send it in. You can email your submissions to: oakdaleconfidential@gmail.com

Here are the conditions:

• They must be in the format provided – double-spaced and no more than two pages.

• Tell me what you want to hear. If you just want to hear what I liked about your submission (without any writer tips), that’s fine. If you’d like some writing tips, say so – and I’ll be glad to provide them.

• If you’ve already progressed from breakdown to a Prologue scene, don’t let me slow you down. Send that as well, and I’ll gladly read both.

• Submit your Prologue Breakdown and/or Scene by Friday 10/15.

I’ll be doing another webinar on Tuesday 10/19. There, I’ll give more tips on finessing the breakdown, and how to develop the story arc as you head into the mid-break (which comes after Act 2), and answering any questions you’ve got so far.

Here’s the link to register for the upcoming webinar:

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/916966430

Save Our Soaps

While we’re at it, I thought we might use this opportunity to bring some buzz to a couple of our remaining soaps. From Tuesday 10/12 until at least Tuesday 10/19, I’m going to commit to a daily viewing of Young and the Restless and All My Children.

If you like, you can watch one of those shows or another – and each day we’ll start a conversation about favorite tag lines of the day, or favorite first lines, or favorite reversals, etc.

This exercise will serve two purposes:

1. You’ll build your writer muscles – now that you have more of an insider’s view of the process.

2. These shows will get some buzz, and remind the powers that be that there are lots of people out here who are committed to watching drama in the daytime.

So, join me on Twitter daily (http://twitter.com/susandansby) and tell me what you think – and be there next Tuesday at 7 PM EDT for more writing tips from the world of soaps!